INFLICTING welfare cuts will push more people into homelessness, charities warned today.

Disability groups also accused the government, which aims to cut £5 billion a year from welfare spending by 2030, of “playing with fire by risking the lives of disabled people to meet arbitrary fiscal goals.”

Central to Labour’s welfare cuts is the tightening of eligibility criteria for personal independence payments (PIP) — a key disability benefit for working-age adults both in and out of work.

Those under 22 with long-term illnesses or disabilities will also no longer be able to claim the health top-up to universal credit under the plans.

Westminster’s own analysis shows the cuts risk pushing 250,000 people into poverty, including 50,000 children. 

A letter co-ordinated by St Mungo’s, co-signed by 13 other homelessness organisations, is urging Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall to rethink the changes.

Cuts designed to get people back into work will actually “push people further away from the labour market, increase homelessness and put excessive pressure on statutory services,” the charities warn.

The signatories highlight that the benefits are vital for dealing with extra costs related to health conditions and help with essentials such as food and utilities.

They also warn that when people lose PIP they may no longer be exempt from the benefit cap and lose other benefits as well.

Without the benefit, people could face homelessness as they may no longer be able to afford their rent, which will also lead to a further “bottleneck” in services, the charities say.

“We can only conclude that the proposed changes will increase the number of people at risk of becoming homeless for the first time, increase the number of people we have helped resolve their homelessness fall back into it and increase the length of time it takes to resolve people’s homelessness in the future.”

Government data shows that 62,040 households with physical ill health and disability needs faced homelessness in 2023/24, compared with 35,860 in 2018/19.

St Mungo’s chief executive Emma Haddad said: “With already eye-watering rents, these benefits help people cover their additional costs. 

“Without them, we fear people will be increasingly unable to afford to secure somewhere safe to live.”

The Times has reported that the government is examining whether benefit claimants could be offered longer “transitional periods” to seek out other benefits.

But Linda Burnip, from Disabled People Against Cuts, said this was “utter and total bullshit” as there are no other social security payments people can access. 

“Some disabled couples and families will lose up to £9,000 a year from these vicious cuts,” she said.

Forty-two Labour MPs signed a letter to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer earlier this month warning that the plans are “impossible to support.”

A vote on the subject is expected to take place in June.

Disability Rights UK housing campaigner Mikey Erhardt said: “The meagreness of our current system means that disabled claimants are often forced to use these payments to meet the cost of ever-spiralling rents.

“If MPs wave these reckless measures through, then the stark numbers of people at risk will only continue to rise, putting more and more disabled people at risk.

“These dangerous cuts will also make disabled people even more reliant on a social housing system where waiting times can reach 47 years for some disabled people.

“How will cuts help disabled renters who face over £1,000 in extra costs a month and earn 17 per cent less than non-disabled people?

“The government is playing with fire by risking the lives of disabled people to meet arbitrary fiscal goals.”

A spokesperson for left Labour campaign Momentum said: “Starmer and Reeves’s attack on the welfare state will plunge a quarter of a million into poverty and will increase homelessness. 

“This is the exact opposite of the ‘change’ people voted for at the last election. Labour MPs have a moral responsibility to oppose these cuts.”

The government said that its reforms include a £1 billion scheme to help the long-term sick or disabled out of poverty and into good, secure jobs.